• Directories
    • Business Directory
    • Church Directory
    • Organization Directory
  • Advertise
  • Donate
  • Help
  • Log In
MENUMENU
  • Learning
        • Leader’s Edge
          • Author Interviews
          • Book Summaries
        • Book Reviews
          • Book Look
          • EMQ Book Reviews
        • Publications
          • Anthology
          • Evangelical Missions Quarterly (EMQ)
          • Missiographics
        • Podcasts
          • The Mission MattersNew
          • Missio Nexus
          • People First HR
          • Members Only Feed
        • Blogs
          • Global Issues Updates
          • Member Highlights
          • Mission Advisors
        • Topics
          • COVID-19 ResourcesNew
          • Diaspora Missions
          • Mobilization
          • Muslim Missions
          • Support Raising
        • Media Library
          • Conferences
          • Global Issue Updates
          • On Mission
          • Thought Leader Briefings
          • Webinars
          • Workshop
          • View All
  • Programs
    • Accreditation
    • Alliance for Benefits
    • Bible CertificateNew
    • Church Missions Coaching
    • Cohorts
    • Cybersecurity
    • ImproveNew
    • Mission Jobs
    • Publish
    • RightNow Media
    • The Mission App
    • Women’s Development
  • Events
          • Calendar
          • In-Person Events
          • Virtual Events
          • Event Recordings
          • Awards
        • Premier Events
          • Mission Leaders Conference
          • On Mission
        • Upcoming Events

          • Webinar: God's Heart for Oneness and Diversity
            Thu Mar 4 2021, 02:00pm EST
          • Women In Leadership - Special Events
            Fri Mar 5 2021
          • On Mission 2021
            Wed Mar 10 2021, 12:00pm EST
        • View All Events
  • Research
          • Missiographics
          • Mission Handbook
          • Research Reports
        • Popular Research
          • Compensation Reports
          • COVID-19 ResourcesNew
          • Field Attrition Report
          • View All Reports
        • Contribute
          • Current Research Projects
          • Submit Data for Mission Handbook
          • Volunteer
  • About Us
        • Who We Are
          • Our Contribution
          • Meet the Team
          • Board Members
          • History (1917–present)
        • Our Beliefs
          • Statement of Faith
          • Community Standards
        • Awards
        • Partner with Us
          • Advertise
          • Donate
          • Sponsorships
          • Volunteer
        • Help
          • Contact Us
          • Advertising Specs
          • Branding Guidelines
  • Join
        • Learn
        • Learn what you cannot learn anywhere else.

        • Meet
        • Meet people you otherwise won’t meet.

        • Engage
        • Engage in a community like none other.

          • Benefits
          • Benefits for Churches
          • Pricing

Sponsored Content

Upcoming Events

  • Webinar: God's Heart for Oneness and Diversity
    Thu Mar 4 2021, 02:00pm EST
  • Women In Leadership - Special Events
    Fri Mar 5 2021
  • On Mission 2021
    Wed Mar 10 2021, 12:00pm EST
  • Four Things Every CEO Needs to Know About Fundraising
    Tue Mar 16 2021, 03:00pm EDT
  • Webinar: Mission Increase: Discovering the Joy of Biblical Generosity
    Thu Mar 18 2021, 02:00pm EDT

View all events »

Topics

author interview Canada CEO Church Church Missions Church Mission Team Church Planting Conference Proceedings COVID-19 Cross Cultural Skills Diaspora Evangelism Focus Future Innovation Islam Justin Long Leadership Management Missiology Missionaries Mission Finance and Administration MLC2019 MLC2020 MLC2021 Mobilization muslim Muslim Diaspora Networks Partnership Personal Productivity Podcast Presenter Research Security Short-Term Missions Spirituality support raising Training Trends Unengaged Unreached unreached people groups Weekly Roundup Women

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

The Unbelievable Gospel: Say Something Worth Believing

Posted on October 1, 2015 by October 1, 2015

by Jonathan K. Dodson

Zondervan. 2014.  

—Reviewed by Michael Hakmin Lee, adjunct professor, Intercultural Studies, Lincoln Christian University.

According to a survey conducted by Lifeway Research in 2010, seventy-six percent of urbanites in the greater Austin area, where Pastor Jonathan Dodson’s church is, did not regard Jesus Christ as Savior. This book assesses why so many in our contemporary, post-Christian setting find the gospel “unbelievable” (both in content and presentation) and proposes remedies to recover “a believable evangelism.” 

The main chapters are organized around three sections. The first explores four “evangelistic defeaters” or reasons why Christians often avoid evangelism and why evangelistic attempts may be unappealing to non-Christians. Dodson chides witness that is “impersonal,” or resembles the performance of a fixed script. Instead, he wisely encourages listening, asking questions, engaging the heart, and seeing evangelism as a process. 

Chapter three counters the perception that evangelism is preachy and self-righteous by making the distinction between announcing the good news of the kingdom versus recruiting people to join a particular version of Christianity—what he calls proselytizing. The next chapter addresses current cultural realities whereby the Christian claim that salvation is mediated uniquely through Jesus is often seen as intolerant, naïve, and narrow-minded. Dodson mentions in the endnote that he is addressing a version of religious pluralism “encountered in ordinary conversation” rather than “academic religious pluralism.” A more thorough and conspicuous explanation would have been helpful as those who are familiar with and sympathetic to more sophisticated pluralist perspectives, like that of John Hick, may feel like Dodson is at times propping up straw man arguments. The last deterrent to Christian witness relates to a crisis of confidence. This includes the fear of rejection and ridicule, and feelings of inadequacy. 

In the second section, Dodson continues his deconstruction of the messenger-focused, salesman approach to evangelism and the recovery of evangelism that is more sensitive to the communicative and existential needs of the receptor. This entails developing a robust understanding of the gospel, or gospel fluency (chap. 6), alongside greater cultural fluency and attentiveness to personal variations (chap. 8). Chapter seven explains five gospel metaphors, each of which addresses a specific aspect of our human brokenness and describes benefits that God offers.     

The third section recounts stories of the author using each of these five gospel metaphors in different personal encounters with seekers. This section also discusses the corporate nature of Christian witness and inclusion into the Kingdom of God (chap. 14). The book carries a casual and conversational style, avoiding technical language and academic jargon. Notes and citations are sparse and a bibliography is not included. Three to six review questions follow each of the main chapters. Though there are other resources that offer more substantial treatment on the ideas that Dodson covers, the strength of this book is in the breadth of timely and important ideas that it covers—sufficient to serve as a good primer on these topics for Christians seeking to reinvigorate this much-maligned ministry of proclamation.

….

EMQ, Vol. 51, No. 4 pp. 463-464. Copyright  © 2015 Billy Graham Center for Evangelism.  All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from EMQ editors. 

GoToOlder PostNewer PostAll PostsBook ReviewsEMQSectionVolume 51 - Issue 4

Comments are closed.

Subscribe to Our Mailing List

Keep up to date with our community.

Menu

  • Join
  • Directories
  • Events
  • Donate

About

  • Who We Are
  • Statement of Faith
  • Awards
  • Resources

Help

  • Contact Us
  • Terms
  • Cookies Policy

Connect

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Google+

PO Box 398
Wheaton, IL 60187-0398

Phone: 770.457.6677
678.392.4577

© Missio Nexus.
All Rights Reserved.

Membership website powered by MembershipWorks